Thousands of Salvadorans remembered monsignor Romero

The religious who defended the poor and was murdered attracts more and more faithful.

A large crowd marched last Tuesday through the streets of San Salvador, commemorating the 35th anniversary of the assassination of monsignor Oscar Arnulfo Romero, shot by a sniper as he was celebrating mass in an oncology hospital. After the rally, a ceremony was also held in the chapel of that same hospital.

Romero was called "the voice of the voiceless" as he stood critical against the de facto government ruling since 1979 and denounced the repression, the social injustices and the violations to human rights against peasants, workers and the dispossessed.

Romero was called "the voice of the voiceless" as he stood critical against the de facto government ruling since 1979 and denounced the repression, the social injustices and the violations to human rights against peasants, workers and the dispossessed.

On the eve of his assassination ordered by Major Roberto d'Aubuisson, the same officer who created the "death squads" —paramilitary groups who persecuted and executed opponents—, the cleric had energically asked Salvadoran soldiers to disobey the orders of shooting against the people. During his funeral, six days later, the army repelled the over 100 thousand people who attended it, leaving tens of deaths.

It is regarded that the assassination of monsignor Romero was one of the facts that contributed to unleash the civil war in El Salvador, which lasted between 1980 and 1992, and in which there were 75,000 casualties, between dead and disappeared. Since then, the devotion of the "romerists" has grown year by year, and Pope Francis announced last February his future beatification next May 23, claiming him to have been murdered due to "hatred to the faith".

The president of the Central American nation, Salvador Sanchez Ceren, said at the closure of the sermon honoring the monsignor that the country now has "a constant light, a saint, Saint Romero of America" and that his personality "reconciles society". Some sectors have been critical of this interpretation, considering it may be used as an excuse to leave behind the civil war responsibilities yet to be investigated.

The Manquehue Institute for Strategic Studies is a civic organization that pursues both the development of strategic views on main topics related to Latin American countries aimed at the local people, and projecting a faithful image of this region to the world.